From regicides to revolutionaries, from fascists to anarchists, from American polemicist Tom Paine to British communist agitator Tom Wintringham, this is a history of noble ideals and crushing failures. English and American studies professor and political commentator Clive Bloom takes us on a journey through British history, exploring the often rocky relationship of citizens with the ruling elite. Bloom reveals a surprising legacy of terrorism and revolution, including three bloody civil wars in Ireland, the bombing campaigns by the IRA, two Welsh uprisings, one Lowland Scottish civil war, uprisings in Derbyshire and Kent, five attempts to assassinate the entire cabinet and seize London, and numerous attempts to murder the royal family.

"Bloom is a card-carrying public intellectual, a regular media commentator and the prolific author and editor of books on pulp fiction, Poe and Freud, graphic novels, politics and literature, best-sellers, American Gothic, British horror, violence and the occult. In short, he has street cred."—Times Higher Education Magazine